Clamping Down on Paramilitary Activity: The Senate on Saturday passed a bill that would clamp down on paramilitary activity and give law enforcement and private citizens tools to combat illegal intimidation, including through civil actions.
House Bill 2572 has the goal of preventing armed activity that interferes with law enforcement or infringes on a person’s constitutional rights, such as voting. The bill goes to Gov. Tina Kotek’s desk after the Senate passed it with a 17-8 party line vote, with all eight Republican senators present opposed.
The bill’s passage comes amid a surge of domestic terrorist and paramilitary activity in Oregon and the Northwest in recent years. Armed anti-government militia groups have taken over public land, as they did in Harney County in 2016 at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Attackers have targeted the electric grid. In a 2022 report, the Oregon Secretary of State office found the state had the sixth highest number of violent extremism incidents in the nation from 2011 to 2020. The report urged lawmakers to take action because Oregon is one of just 16 states without a definition of domestic terrorism in the law.
“Our communities, our families are vulnerable,” Sen. James Manning, D-Eugene, a chief sponsor of the bill, said in a statement. “This bill will fortify Oregon against threats from violent extremists trying to undermine our democracy and infringe on our rights.”
The bill would allow the attorney general to take a paramilitary group to court and get a judicial order to stop certain activity, including armed intimidation. The bill would allow private individuals to sue paramilitary participants in court for damages over their loss of access to a public space or ability to engage in a lawful activity, such as voting. Lawsuits could be filed even if criminal charges weren’t filed.
Under the proposal, unlawful paramilitary activity would be defined as three or more people who operate as a unit with a coordinated command structure. The group, armed with firearms, explosives or other weapons, would be considered a paramilitary organization if it publicly patrolled, held drills or engaged in activities that could injure or kill. The bill would apply to paramilitary activity regardless of ideology.
Self-Serve at the Gasoline Pump: Oregonians may soon have the right to pump gas into their vehicles on their own throughout the state, under a bill that cleared the Legislature on Wednesday with approval in the Senate.
The measure, which passed the Senate with a 16-9 bipartisan vote, would allow Oregonians to pump their own gas or continue to get service from an attendant. The bill would allow gas stations to designate self-service pumps, but they still must offer attendant service for at least half of them. Lawmakers kept that requirement intact to help people who need or prefer full service.
“This bill strikes a balance between consumer preferences, business needs, and employment considerations,” the bill’s chief sponsor, Sen. Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro, said in a statement. “It provides Oregonians choice at the pump, while still protecting access for the elderly and disabled community members.”
The bill heads to Gov. Tina Kotek, who is expected to sign it.
Only Oregon and New Jersey now ban self-service gas, although Oregon has gradually loosened restrictions in recent years. In 2015, lawmakers allowed self-serve gas during nighttime hours in rural and coastal counties to help fuel retailers and drivers. Two years later, lawmakers expanded that to all hours for rural counties. Oregon also has made other exceptions, such as during wildfires, severe heat waves and COVID-19.
The bill would simplify the patchwork of regulations, supporters say.
Under the bill, stations in 16 of Oregon’s most heavily populated counties would need at least one attendant present to pump gas for customers who don’t want self-service. Customers in 20 rural counties and motorcycle operators would be able to pump their own gas regardless of whether an attendant is at the station. Those counties are: Baker, Clatsop, Crook, Curry, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Hood River, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Tillamook, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Wasco and Wheeler.
Gas stations would have to charge the same amount regardless of what option a customer selects.
A similar proposal failed in 2022 after the state fire marshal estimated the state would need more than $500,000 to regulate the change, a figure that state officials now say is only “minimal.”
OHSU Primate Center Accountability to Increase: The Oregon National Primate Research Center would have to be more transparent about the nearly 5,000 primates in its care under a bill headed to Gov. Tina Kotek’s desk.
House Bill 2904 would require Oregon Health & Science University, which runs the center, to annually publish online information including the number of primates in the facility and how many were bought or sold, born and used for research or breeding.
The Senate passed the measure with a 22-2 vote Wednesday. The House passed the bill in April with a 51-1 vote.
The bill’s chief sponsor, Democratic Rep. David Gomberg of Otis, proposed the legislation after reviewing more than 1,600 pages of public records about the center. In one instance, two adult monkeys in 2020 were scalded to death in cage-washing equipment after a technician failed to remove them from their cage.
Dozens of employees raised concerns after the incident about a “lack of leadership” in a signed petition to the center’s management that said it has a record of other animals dying due to neglect.
The bill also would require the university to report the injuries and deaths of primates that resulted in a citation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which inspects the center. In the past, the federal agency has fined the center for violations linked to animal deaths and injuries.
“Reasonable people can disagree on whether using animals for medical research is scientifically valid or ethical,” Gomberg said in a statement. “But we have to agree that it’s not being done very well here in Oregon. There must be accountability, and if leadership can’t fix the problems, there has to be intervention.”
From 2005 to 2020, the center had at least 17 primate deaths due to negligence, according to federal records.
In October, OHSU agreed to pay a nearly $38,000 fine to settle a U.S. Department of Agriculture enforcement case. Federal regulators flagged problems that included five prairie voles – one of them euthanized – who died of thirst after they didn’t receive water. In another incident, a monkey was euthanized after its head got caught between two pipes that were part of a resting platform and perch.
OHSU officials have said they always strive for high standards and take animal injuries and deaths seriously. Serious incidents are reported to OHSU’s Research Integrity Office for investigations and reports sent to the university’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee for follow-up actions.
That work has led to actions that include additional staff training and protocols, including a two-person system to verify that cages are empty before they are washed.
The facility is one of seven national primate research centers in the United States that conduct medical research. The other six are in Washington state, California, Wisconsin, Texas, Louisiana and Georgia.
By Ben Botkin of Oregon Capital Chronicle
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